So I made what might have been a colossal mistake last week and posted my "wish list."
It was a failure of imagination on my part not to realize the can o' worms that would be opened by this post. For several days I battled tweets, emails, private messages, comments, smoke signals etc, basically saying "OK, you say you don't like ______ -- but what about ______ ????"
"OK, no paranormal romance - but what if it is mostly realistic but then there are GOBLINS?" "OK, you don't like books with dead girls... what about dead BOYS?" "OK, you like horse books... what if they are SEAHORSES?" "OK, you want a love story, and you like animals, but you didn't mention a combo... what if it is a KANGAROO love story?"
OMG. You guys. Killin' me.
The "wishlist" is not meant to be "A Comprehensive List of All the Types of Books That Are Good."
Th wishlist is also not a list of all the books I enjoy reading - this is not a list of all the books that are popular - this is also not a list of what any OTHER agent might be looking for.
The wishlist is merely a SAMPLE of the kinds of books I don't already represent, that I might be especially interested in looking at if somebody out there has written one.
For example - I didn't talk much about Historical Fiction. I like it fine, but I already represent a lot of it... I am not begging for more, unless it is totally different from what I already have. (I already have Victorian England, Victorian America, Dark Ages Europe, Weimar Republic, 1960's USA...)
Likewise, I didn't mention fantasy, because I already have LOTS of magical stories on my list. It would have to be pretty special and different to get my attention. That isn't to say that a special, different story that I'll love isn't out there - I'm SURE it is. I just don't consider that a "hole in the list."
Are there types of books that are not on the list that I would also love to see? I am sure there are - but I haven't even imagined them. That is where the fun of going through the submissions comes in -- I love to be surprised by what I fall in love with.
So I give up. For goodness sake, submit whatever you want. Just know that the things on the wishlist have a higher chance of getting close reads and more requested materials... and the things on the No list have an extremely good chance at swift rejection.
The things I never mentioned on either list? Go for it, why the heck not.
